All MTF WOMEN and GIRLS on HORMONES come in..........

[mclova84]

Hi everyone,

I am so glad I found this messageboard...everyone seems very kind and willing to help other girls in the same situation.

I am transgendered and just a few weeks shy of my 23 birthday...I have been in therapy and my therapist and I have come to the conclusion that I should begin taking hormones to transition into the female I am on the inside...I am a "late bloomer" in some respects for many transgender people begin this process in their late teens...however I am aware many others do not begin early and have successfully transitioned at later points in life.

My concern right now is that @ 23 years old I feel that the hormones might not have a good effect on me. I have a pretty feminine apperance as a male and I am 5'10 which isn't too bad....I know this is what I need to do but I am concerned because I have always been an attractive male and of course all of us want to be as beautiful and passable as possible - it may seem vain but we are changing our "shells" and the last thing I wanted is to feel like a "pretty man in drag with breast" for the rest of my life.....so my questions to all of you that are willing to share/help....

(1)What age did you beging taking hormones? And what have your results been?
(2)And basically, in your opinion is 22/23 years old too late to beging hormones?

I have and will discuss this all further with my doctors but I just wanted some of your girls first hand experiences and any answers, suggestions, thoughts, etc. would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Thanks a million in advance to all that reply...I'm looking foward to hearing from you!!!!!

[seldom]

Don't worry 23 is still very young.  You are not even close to a late bloomer in trans terms, you are still an early bloomer by all means. 

You will be fine, the hormones still have great effects.  Transitioning at your age is great time to start.  You will FAR from a drag queen with breasts.

To be honest anybody who transitions under the age of thirty does pretty well, I have yet to meet anybody who did not.  But under the age of 25 is the ideal time in terms of the effects of hormones.  So you have nothing to fear dear. 

[mavieenrose]

Me I started hormones at 22 and had SRS at 24. Although starting earlier would have enabled me to avoid facial hair removal and maybe also the need to work on my voice all in all it's been fine.  The hormones and surgery have given me an unquestionably female body (albeit with slightly wider shoulders than the average, though as I'm a keen swimmer that doesn't shock anyone...)

I'm 38 now and my only real problems now are just the same as any other woman my age, a fear of getting wrinkles, grey hair, putting on weight and one day ending up an old spinster ;-)

MVER XXX

[Rachael]

i started hrt at 20 (on jan 14th this year)

at 23, you still have a LOT of human growth hormone in your system (till 24) so while you wont get as rapid or total effect as a younger person, you will still get a great deal.
So id get on hrt asap

[Keira]

I'm 39 and my aunts couldn't even recognize me one year late until my mother pointed me to them.
At 23, you should be quite OK.

[HelenW]

Hi, mclova!

23 is a fine age to start.  I started HRT a month after I turned 50 and while the progress is maddeningly slow, there's still progress.  I think you'll turn out just fine.

hugs & smiles
Emelye

[mclova84]

thanks for all of the incouraging stories and words ladies...any more stories?

[rhonda13000]

Oh please, girl. 

Is 50 too old to begin HRT?

That's when I started and the effect has been quite satisfactory.

[Ms Bev]

Am I too old??
Don't make me choke on my prune juice!  I started at 54, am 56 1/2 now, and friends who haven't seen me in those two years fail to recognize me.  The young and middle-aged women I work with are augmenting their wardrobes, now that I'm out and fulltime at work.  They appear to be temporarily augmenting other things as well .  I can go anywhere, and people see me as a woman, and not such a bad looking one at that.
No!  you are not too old.


gay old Bev

[Kate]

(1)What age did you beging taking hormones? And what have your results been?

42. Been on HRT for 10 months. Friday a guy I walked past said, "Good morning, young lady!" to me. So I'm pretty happy with the results so far

(2)And basically, in your opinion is 22/23 years old too late to beging hormones?

Not even close.

Some say the effectiveness drops off after around age 28... after which HRT still works, but the effectiveness is the same whether you're 29 or 92.

Others say that's just an urban legend, and it's all a matter of individual genetics.

~Kate~

[Hypatia]

I started HRT when I was 46 (last year). How I wish I had started when I first had a mind to, when I was 22. But in those days, information, support, and resources were hard to find--I didn't know it was possible--or I told myself it was impossible--or something ignorant like that--I talked myself out of it and suppressed the desire until it burst out into the open under its own inner power. Wow, it looks like they have really raised the bar for youthfulness these days, if you think 23 is old, kiddo! You're one of the lucky ones.

[Buffy]

I started HRT when I was 46 (last year). How I wish I had started when I first had a mind to, when I was 22. But in those days, information, support, and resources were hard to find--I didn't know it was possible--or I told myself it was impossible--or something ignorant like that--I talked myself out of it and suppressed the desire until it burst out into the open under its own inner power. Wow, it looks like they have really raised the bar for youthfulness these days, if you think 23 is old, kiddo! You're one of the lucky ones.

Yes... what she said exactly, although I started at 38

Buffy

[Hypatia]

As to what effects have I noticed--
outwardly: Before HRT I could not pass worth a damn. Now I am starting to pass some of the time.
inwardly: I am finally able to feel whole, an integral being, no longer divided against myself. This is the most important thing of all.

[gothique11]

I started at 27, I'm not 28. It has almost been a year, 11-ish months, that I've been on hormones. They have affected me greatly. How much they affect you depends on a lot of things, not just age.

[Kimberly]

(1)What age did you beging taking hormones? And what have your results been?
(2)And basically, in your opinion is 22/23 years old too late to beging hormones?

1. 30; Good, would be just fine if I actually could manage to eat.
2. You worry to much. Do what it takes to make yourself happy. Hint, the later you start the less it matters. ... THE LESS IT MATTERS. I started out in this thought pattern in grade school, clone body (i.e. perfectly normal girl) or bust. Guess what? I busted. Let me repeat a rather important part of this, the later you start the less it matters. Which has the moral of, age doesn't matter

inwardly: I am finally able to feel whole, an integral being, no longer divided against myself. This is the most important thing of all.

An HRT should have VERY LITTLE to do with that.
HRT helps one's peace of mind to be sure, but it is not where happiness is found.

[Rachael]

no, hrt is the vessel through which one can find happyness. when your not feeling like crap, you can learn to be happy.
ive learned how to smile since starting hrt.

[rhonda13000]

As to what effects have I noticed--
outwardly: Before HRT I could not pass worth a damn. Now I am starting to pass some of the time.
inwardly: I am finally able to feel whole, an integral being, no longer divided against myself. This is the most important thing of all.

HRT did indeed have profound and staggering effect on the mind globally, but it wasn't sufficient to banish the demons.

Not at all.

[Hypatia]

inwardly: I am finally able to feel whole, an integral being, no longer divided against myself. This is the most important thing of all.

An HRT should have VERY LITTLE to do with that.
HRT helps one's peace of mind to be sure, but it is not where happiness is found.

I think you missed my point. I have explained elsewhere how the sensation of relief was first noticed in the smoothness of my skin, then permeated my whole body, and then my mind. And what sweet relief that has brought. Have a care about dismissing the experience and insights of others. I may be an old crone, but one blessing that maturity has brought me is learning to withhold judgment of others, developing a spirit of listening to others with an open heart since everyone I meet has something to teach me in their wonderful uniqueness and human diversity.

Life has opened up to become richer and more meaningful in exquisite depths of feelings, sensuousness, and compassion. Estrogen has been a wonderful help with my development into a mature woman. Besides, hormones are clinically known to bring mental effects, I'm not just making this up.

I was so pretty when I was young and of course regret my missed opportunities. The society we're in has a fixation on youth and beauty, especially for women, but honestly I feel the inner dimension of mature womanhood is a far richer blessing, and one that will only grow with the years. Have any of you young pretty gals thought ahead to where you'll be with your womanhood when your beauty fades with age?

[Berliegh]

I would have started at 16 if I had the opportunity to get hold of hormones. In the late 70's it was harder to talk to anyone let alone try and find treatment through a maze of barriers.

I started taking contraceptive pills in my mid 20's but only started on hormones officially by the time I was 42. At the time I had a long struggle with NHS psychiatrists at a London gender clinic in the U.K who refused to let me go on hormone therapy for two years. In the end I sought a private consultant who put me on them emmediately.

The original post from mclova84 is a very mature way of thinking although it's not that obvious that someone is on hormones or not. In my case I look the same as I did before I took them.

[Rachael]

Charring Cross = poop